Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Much like my old dog, though I haven't been doing more sleeping or lying about than usual (actually less), I have been lying low.

Dottie took two weeks off around the 4th of July, some to get ready for the family 4th we held here again this year (fireworks are still legal); we had planned on fishing some (thanks a lot for the 8" of rain in June and 3" so far in July) and getting the house exterior ready to paint (see note about rain above).

Instead, some things inside got done; my nephew came to visit for 3 days for the first time since before he left for college and we went out to 3 movies in 2 days, besides the ones we watched here. "Karate Kid" (Jackie Chan better get an Oscar); "A-Team" (not George Peppard's crew anymore, and though I remember them fondly, it was a nice update); and the newest "Twilight" (nicely done...wonder when Bryce Howard will be letting her kids watch it).

Nephew got history lessons in watching "Twelve O'Clock High" with my narrative and me pausing it each time he started texting...(I believe if you are going to watch a movie, watch the movie) and the sequel to "American Graffiti", "More American Graffiti". Of course, he wanted to re-watch the original first; the 2nd is actually a pretty good documentary of the "late" 60's...Scott Glenn and Candy Clark steal the show...yes, that Scott Glenn; the one from "Silverado".

My knee has finally, after 7 months, eased or healed enough I started walking on the treadmill again for the first time since I partially tore the quad and bruised my femur last December. After 10 days of slowly building my time, speed and incline, I finally started lifting weights again as well and already feel better than I have in months. We shall see if I can re-engineer myself into something I don't mind looking at in the mirror now...

The photo I led with was taken the night of the 4th; it was Angel's best 4th ever (she's pretty close to deaf now). With two intermissions for rain we had everything done but the sparklers when the 3rd deluge began about 11. We saved the sparklers for a week, John, Noel and the grandkids came back for dinner last Saturday and I cooked honey stir-fry, then we finally concluded the fireworks. In the 50 years I remember, this is the closest we've ever come to a "rain-out".